The difference between one-time commission affiliate programs and residual affiliate programs is astronomical – in terms of income. Essentially, a one-time commission affiliate program pays you one commission, one time – upon the initial sale. Residual programs, however, continue to provide you with an income, either for the life of the customer or for a set term.
Point 5: Residual Programs Are Often BestWhen choosing between one-time commission programs and residual programs, always choose residual programs. These allow you to make one sale to a customer, and then to profit from that customers repeat or ongoing business with the company, usually for the life of the customer/business relationship.
Where you may make $100 for a one-time commission, with a residual program, you may make $100 per month, every month, just from making one sale. The choice is obvious – residual programs typically provide you with more income for less work.
Residual programs that pay for the life of the customer are better than residual programs that only pay for a set term. You want to have the income from one sale for as long as possible.
Generally, a residual income potential exists when you sell services, such as webhosting, where the customer pays a monthly fee for the service. Every month that the customer pays the fees, you earn a commission. However, when the customer stops paying the fee, you no longer receive a commission for that customer.
For this reason, it may be best to look for services that are vitally needed by your potential customers. For instance, anyone who does business on the Internet has a need for webhosting, and they don’t want their site to go down, so the chances are good that this will be a very long residual income for you.
Telephone services also provide a nice residual income. Everyone needs their telephone, and most need long distance services. If you are promoting a company that provides such services at great prices, then again, this could provide a very nice long term residual income for you.
However, services that are not long term in nature can also be good if the commission is high enough. For instance, membership websites that provide customers with some type of course or learning experience may provide you with a residual income while the customer is a member of the site. However, once the customer feels that they have gleaned all that they can from that membership site, they will most likely cancel their membership, which cancels your residual income from that customer.
Certain types of products can also provide you with long term or life time residual income. Health care related products, such as vitamins and medication are good examples of this. Also, many companies give life time commissions to the affiliate for every purchase the customer makes – from the very first purchase – even for different products that the company sells.
Keep these things in mind when you are searching for programs to promote. Residual is better than one-time, and life time residual is better than termed residual. Look for products or services that will provide you with life time residual income.
Point 6: Promote the Product and The ProgramOne mistake that affiliates often make, in terms of two-tiered programs or multitiered programs, is that they tend to spend most of their time trying to get others to sign up for the program, as an affiliate, and less time actually promoting the product.
Ideally, you should promote the product more and the affiliate programs as you go along, bringing your customers into the affiliate program after you’ve sold them the product. This tends to get you the most income in the long run.
Furthermore, with multi-tiered programs, residual income is not always available. For instance, if Joe signs up under you as an affiliate in a two tiered program, he may have residual income from a sale, but you may only get a one time commission from that sale he makes. In this instance, you are better off selling the product, not the program, because you would make more in residual income from your own sales in the long run.
While it is nice to have others doing the work for you, the greatest income will come from the work that you do yourself. This also keeps the company that you are selling for stable. For example, if you only promote the program, which is free to join, and everyone that joins under you only promotes the program, nobody is going to make any money, including the company!
Find a balance between promoting the program and the product, promoting the product first, then promoting the program to those who have purchased the product.